CrissCross
by The Power of Imagination
Summary: Lara is hired to find the Amulet of the Portals, an ancient and valuable artefact. But, on her way, she finds someone familiar, from a past adventure... What will happen? Well, read to find out!
1. The phone call

**Hi! This is my first Tomb Raider fanfic. I hope you like it!**

**NOTE: I used the AoD Lara in this Fanfic (All rights to Core Design, Eidos and Crystal Dynamics) but I didn't continued the story or inserted pieces of it. I made my own storyline.**

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><p>The phone rang. A tall, thick woman picked it up and answered, looking at the ground:<p>

"Hello?"

"_Miss Croft, it's so nice to meet you."_ the voice in the other side of the line announced. "_I'd be delighted to have business with you."_

"What kind of business?" she asked.

"_I've located an ancient artefact called the Amulet of the Portals, and I'd like that you get it for me. Come to my apartment so I can give you more details."_

She bit her lip. Then, after a deep breath, she affirmed:

"Okay. Where can I find you?"

"_Surrey, Sergeant Square, number 12. My apartment is the tenth floor. Tell the doorman you're looking for Volt. I work in a place named "Volt Laboratories" and I'm its owner. Goodbye, Miss Croft. I'll be waiting for you."_

"Good evening." she wished him.

Lara looked up and frowned. She was a very good-looking woman. Her brown narrow eyes were deep and had long eyelashes. She had a long, straight brown hair, usually caught in a braid.

Lara Croft was an archaeologist who was fuelled by an obsession to discover the secrets of the unfound civilizations, fluent in a dozen languages and a superb athlete. She was optimist, active, and stopped at nothing to get what she wanted.

Her home was a gorgeous big manor, which was tidied and cleaned by an old butler, Winston, who was always faithful to the Croft family. Lara's parents were dead, so she had the mansion all to herself.

She looked for Winston and asked him to make tea for them and to deliver it in her room. Flipping and jumping, she climbed the left set of stairs to the first floor with some fancy moves. Then she turned left to enter the corridor where her room was.

The floor of Lara's room was covered with a red carpet. In the middle of the wall and between two windows, there was a cove with a fireplace. In front of it, there was Lara's bed. Then, in the right, there was an entrance to her personal bathroom.

Lara sat on a chair in front of a small table and Winston came in with a tray. On top of it, there was a kettle and two cups filled with tea. The butler sat in front of the woman.

"Winston, tonight I'll leave. I'm going to have a meeting with a scientist." Lara informed, grabbing the cup and slurping the tea.

"Who is this scientist?" he questioned. "Does he have an artefact that you want?"

Lara carefully put back the cup on the tray and answered:

"Not really. He located an artefact and wants me to get it."

Miss Croft explained the situation to the butler, who, after the conversation, grabbed the tray and walked back to the kitchen to wash the dishes. And, when the time came, Lara quickly dressed up a pair of jeans, a dark t-shirt and a denim jacket. She didn't wear her usual clothes because she didn't want to look too dangerous.

She tied the laces of her boots, put the brown backpack and gone down into the front yard. Winston opened the gates for her and she mounted on the bike, accelerating and leaving a track of grey smoke behind her.


	2. The conversation

Finally Lara found the building. She pressed a silver button on her right.

"Who is it?" an angry voice asked.

"I'm looking for _Volt._" She answered neutral to the doorman's voice tone. "Is he at home now?"

"Yes. Come in. His apartment is the second floor."

The door opened and Lara entered the building, facing the entrance hall. There was a lift and stairs. She picked the stairs and climbed up to the second floor.

The doorbell rang in that moment._ Volt_ quickly undressed his robe, hid it behind a cupboard and ran to the door.

"Hello?" He greeted, in a question tone.

"Good evening, _Volt._ It's Lara Croft." The archaeologist said.

"Miss Croft!" The man recognized, immediately opening the door with a sympathetic smile. "Please come in!"

She stepped in and took off her sunglasses. _Volt _seemed excited. He pointed to an apparently comfortable armchair. Lara walked to it and sat down as he started:

"Well, as you know, the artefact I located is the Amulet of the Portals. According to my results, it's hidden in the submerse Memory Sanctuary, somewhere in the Pacific."

"What can the Amulet do?" The woman asked.

"Its powers are basically teleportation. It opens a portal to wherever you're thinking and allows you to pass through and end on the desired location."

"So, you mean…" She resumed. "…People can cross the globe with the Amulet?"

"Yes!"

"Two more things… You mentioned «_basically_ teleportation» before and…"

"I did." _Volt___interrupted, snapping his fingers. "It does have other abilities, but they're unknown for now. That's why people just call the artefact the Amulet of the _Portals_."

Lara raised an eyebrow. She did like adventures, but something on that man didn't feel right. But Lara ignored that feeling, thinking that was stupidity of hers. So she shook her head and continued:

"Okay, last thing. If the location of the Amulet is somewhere in the Pacific, how do I manage to get there?"

"Well, call me whenever you're ready to go. Two of my men will arrive in a few minutes to take you to the exact coordinates." He instructed, reaching a card on his pocket and handing it over to Lara.

They both stood up. Lara putted her sunglasses back on and concluded dryly:

"See you around."

"But…! Do you take the job?"

"Yup." She nodded.

"Wait!" _Volt _called, as Lara walked to the door. "My real name is… Thomas Grid…"

Lara opened the door and stepped out, walking to the stairs.

"Nice to meet you, _Thomas Grid_…" She said loudly, with a smirk on her face. She didn't turn around to face him and climbed down the stairs.

Thomas slowly closed the door. Then, he leaned his back on it and slid down to the ground, muttering:

"Wow… She's amazing…"


	3. On her way to the Pacific

**SORRY FOR THE DELAY! I hope you like this chapter too! Oh, I've got to think abut the "continue AoD" thing... This story is kinda complex!**

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><p>It was early morning. The skies were blue and violet, and a soft cool breeze was passing by.<p>

Lara Croft had just finished the assault course in the back of her house. After she shot the last bullet, Winston asked behind her:

"Are you going to the Pacific?"

"Yes." She re-holstered the pistols and continued. "I wouldn't have any other exciting adventure for a long time, otherwise." Winston handed over a bottle with water to her. She opened it and drank.

"Lara…" he said, looking a little concerned. "Take care. I don't know why, I have a bad feeling about this."

Lara looked up to him with a smile. He had her father role in her life. He stayed with Lara even after her family disowned her and worried about Lara when nobody did.

"Thanks. Don't worry, Winston, I'll be absolutely fine." Winston knew that. She was very well trained for any kind of danger and had guns with her. Of course Lara was going to be fine. But that wasn't the butler's concern. He just didn't want Lara to get into a misunderstood or a fight for some ancient artefact. That would bring more problems with other people. He _knew_ Lara wouldn't want to have more problems of these. She had enough in Paris and Prague.

"OK. But still…" Winston insisted. "Be careful. I know." She completed with a smile.

Later on that day, after lunch, Lara reached to the phone and typed Tom's number. "Come pick me up at my house. Yes, I'm ready."

And the scientist's men got there in a few minutes. Lara had already dressed up her yellow and black swimsuit under a red biker jacket and black shorts. As she entered the car, the man who was next to the driver turned back and greeted her. "Good afternoon, Miss Croft." She noticed at the man as shaking.

"Hi. Call me Lara." She said. Apparently, this ha some effect on him. The man opened his eyed very much and smiled.

"It's so nice to meet you, _Lara_. My name's Jake and I work for Thomas Grid." he answered

"Why does you boss want the Amulet of the Portals?" Lara questioned, some minutes later.

"I don't know that." Jake replied. "But I know why he chose you to his job." Lara stared at him and leaned head on her hand, which's elbow was supported on her knee. "Well, everyone knows that you're always successful whenever you go on your adventures. He thought you were the only one w could bring the artefact back with no harm. Beside that, he has got a crush on…"

"Jake!" the driver hit him on the arm and gave him a look, throwing imaginary daggers at Jake.

"What is it? Come on, Matt, can't I tell Lara about … oh." They stood quiet during the rest of the trip. Some time later, they arrived on a dock with a lot of boxes and storages.

"Miss Croft, if you need to phone anyone, please go to that storage over there." Matt pointed out. "We won't have wireless connection any further." Lara nodded and made her way into the storage. But, instead of making a phone call, she undressed the jacket and the shorts and hid them inside an empty box. Lara picked up her aqua lung and put it on. When she returned, a helicopter landed on the dock. She ran over to it and hopped on.

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><p><strong>OK, OK, it's small and late, but blame group projects. I'll try to upload the next chapter soon. Please review! (If you read my profile, you know I like chocolate cookies. You don't want to disappoint me.)<strong>


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